Sunday, June 16, 2019

Trinity Sunday

First Reading: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-5
Gospel Reading: John 16:12-15

The liturgical color for the day is: White

With the Day of Pentecost last Sunday, we now encounter another liturgical fest day—Trinity Sunday.  It is the last festival day prior to Christ the King Sunday in November.  The celebration of the Sacraments is appropriate on Trinity Sunday.

The doctrine of the Trinity is a human construct.  It is an attempt to describe the indescribable.  It is a way of trying to make sense of the incredible mystery which is the divine/human encounter.  All our understandings of God seek some sort of classification, some sort of clarity, some sort of pigeon hole that will satisfy our thirst for clarity.

There is something false about such making sense when it comes to describing God.  God is always beyond.

Trinity is a way of opening up the consideration and conversation about God.  God is always beyond.  God is way more—well more beyond our considerations, imaginations, boundaries, more…

The text from Proverbs invites us to ask what the role of Wisdom is—Holy Wisdom—another way to frame an essence of God.  The Second Reading from Romans is a description of the reconciled life that we receive by grace alone that characterized by peace and hope even through suffering.  In the gospel reading from John, issue of revelation and truth are at hand, yet those who chose texts for the lectionary like selected this text because of the trinitarian nature of the passage.

The new Connection Commentary (I highly recommend it, Westminster John Knox Press, 2019) says of the lection from John: “What is pronounced in this brief passage is the sense that the triune God is a living God who is an active agent.  God is the subject of active verbs!  The triune God sends, comes, teaches, acts, speaks, chooses, intends, and promises.”

On Trinity Sunday, we might preach about the doctrine of the Trinity, but the text warrants that we preach more on the God who is the active verbs among us giving us life.  This God sends, comes, teaches, acts, speaks, chooses, intends, and promises.

Rev. Dr. Daris Bultena
General Presbyter